University of Pittsburgh Nationality Rooms

Today we went on a field trip with a local homeschool group to the Nationality Rooms at Pitt.  They are on the lower floors of the Cathedral of Learning.  

The view of Phipps Conservatory (one of our favorite spots in Pittsburgh) from the 36th floor of the Cathedral

Waiting for our tour to start

Taken by Isaiah

In the England room, this fireplace was shipped from the original House of Commons. Isaiah thought that was cool. Sam was not impressed.

Standing by the columns in the Greek room

Interesting doorway leaving the China room

Many rooms were decorated for Christmas in that country's traditional style.  This baby Jesus was the first thing that Sam showed any interest in.  

Globe in the Poland room.  

Oh the enthusiasm for learning!  Hahaha!

In the Romania room, "Prince Constantin and his family laid down their lives so that faith in God and nation may live forever in Romanian hearts."  

Artwork dedicated to Constantine.  Isaiah was interested. Sam, uh no.  

Practicing Ninjago moves in the Japan room

Having fun in the India room

The Early America room was probably our favorite because there was a secret stairway to an upstairs room!  

The boys in the very narrow stairway

Looking at Colonial money

Dead Sea Scrolls in the Israel room

I found the rooms fascinating, and our tour guide was very knowledgeable.  I think the boys will appreciate them more when they're older.  Overall, not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

Prayer

Wednesday night after AWANA, Isaiah came home and got really sick all over the bathroom.  After about a 30 minute episode, he was in the shower getting cleaned up.  I went upstairs to get Sam put in bed and pray with him.

Me: Sam, we need to pray for Isaiah because he's downstairs and he's really sick.
Sam:  Ok, but I don't know how he usually prays.

Haha! Sam thought we had to pray in Isaiah's place, like instead of Isaiah.  So I cleared up that confusion.

P.S. Turns out Isaiah was fine the next day.  I think it was a matter of too much juice.  When I was in the shower Wednesday afternoon, Isaiah got himself some juice and, according to him, kept refilling his cup.  So I'm guessing he just had too much.  I'm just thankful that it didn't hit him at AWANA!!

Adventures in Homeschooling: Sun and Planets

If the earth is a little less than two inches in diameter, the sun is 12 feet in diameter. :)

The boys are holding the first four planets.  The spacing is not to scale.  Haha!

Relative distance of planets

Maybe the curriculum should come with a warning:  When testing the temperature near the sun (i.e. near a light bulb) don't put the thermometer too close to the light bulb!!

Facebook

Aah, facebook, how I love/hate you.  Anyone else feel the same?  I love being able to keep up with old friends and family from all over.  I love seeing pictures of my friends' kids growing up.  I love being able to share encouraging words and get encouraged by friends.  Sharing church events and asking advice from my 258 "friends" is always handy.  

So what's not to love??  Running into a random person who comes to our church maybe twice a year and knows all about our kid's birthday celebration.  Creepy!!  Just because we're facebook friends doesn't mean you really know me!  Also? Drama.  People posting things and other people arguing about what they posted.  Sheesh.  People messaging each other rude things then getting phone calls from some other relative about what they messaged to so and so.  Oy.  

Do you ever think that facebook had taken over real life??  Seems like every conversation I have in real life with a real person who is a real friend of mine somehow ends up involving something someone saw on facebook.  Bazaar.  

So I decided I needed some breathing room.  I'm not going to deactivate my account.  I don't want to come across as THAT antisocial!  Haha!  But I'm not going to read through my news feed.  I'll check up on my real friends and read messages.  

Like so many other things, facebook seems good in moderation.  :)

Sam's #5

My sweet five-year-old had one fabulous birthday.  We decided to do away with parties, and have a fun-filled day instead.  So, we gave him five surprises for his fifth birthday.  

Sam's Lloyd the Green Ninja Birthday Cake

Surprise #1:  Meeting Aunt Janet in Cranberry to go birthday shopping

$10 to spend at 5 Below!!

Surprise #2: Lunch at Chick-fil-A with Grandma, Aunt Janet, and the family

Home after lunch for cake and presents (not a surprise)

Surprise #3: Phipps Conservatory with Aunt Janet

Roar like a dragon!!!!

In front of Phipps

Surprise #4:  Dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse.  They were celebrating their 40th birthday and had a balloon guy and face painter there.  That's supposed to be batman on his cheek.  

Green baseball hat, golden sword, and ironman balloons

Surprise #5: Ringling Bros. Circus!!  This was actually a surprise for all of us as tickets became available to us about an hour and a half before the show.  Thankfully, we were just a few blocks away eating dinner.  God is good!  No, we didn't originally have a fifth surprise planned.

Check out those seats!  We arrived a few minutes late, and our seats were occupied.  So the usher had us sit in these vip seats with a counter and comfy rolling chairs.  I guess the monitors are on during hockey games, too.  It was nice to have as much legroom as we wanted and have some space to move around.  

The clowns did a skit called, "How many clowns does it take to change a light bulb?"  They were up and down silly ladders, falling all over the place and eventually it looked like the one clown electrocuted himself.  Sam was sitting on my lap and belly laughing so hard.  His unique laugh was echoing through the Consol Energy Center.  We all had such a fun day and enjoyed it so much more than a birthday party.  Isaiah's already looking forward to what his eight surprises might be on his next birthday.  :)